City University of Hong Kong

Course Syllabus

offered by Department of Asian and International Studies

with effect from Semester B 2018 / 19

Part I Course Overview

Course Title: Death and Disease

Course Code: AIS4142

Course Duration: One semester

Credit Units: 3

Level: B4
Arts and Humanities
Study of Societies, Social and Business Organisations
Proposed Area:
(for GE courses only) Science and Technology

Medium of
Instruction: English

Medium of
Assessment: English

Prerequisites: Must have completed at least three core courses for the ASIS major or
(Course Code and Title) equivalent

Precursors:
(Course Code and Title) NIL

Equivalent Courses:
(Course Code and Title) NIL

Exclusive Courses:
(Course Code and Title) NIL

Course Syllabus
AIS4142 - 1
Nov 2018
 Part II Course Details

1. Abstract
(A 150-word description about the course)

This course aims to provide students with an introduction to the implications of diseases from
historical times to the present, and to develop their skills in analysing the political, economic and
social impacts of threats to health. After a broad inter-disciplinary introduction, the course
considers pandemic outbreaks (Plague, SARS, H5N1, H1N1, HIV/AIDS) as well as a range of
epidemics (smallpox, polio, syphilis and cholera). Towards the end of the course the threats posed
by non-communicable diseases (cancer, obesity, diabetes) are also considered in a comparative
perspective. Cutting across all cases this course will compare and contrast the roles played by
states, societies, market actors and international organizations. Empirically-driven this course
will range across the major infectious disease outbreaks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Although
this course is international in scope, it will more specifically draw upon Asian examples and
issues.

2. Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)

(CILOs state what the student is expected to be able to do at the end of the course according to a given standard of
performance.)

No. CILOs# Weighting* Discovery-enriched

(if curriculum related
applicable) learning outcomes
(please tick where
appropriate)
A1 A2 A3
1. Show familiarity with the major communicable and 20%   
non-communicable diseases
2. Assess the challenges posed by such diseases 20%  
3. Analyse response strategies made by different actors 20%   
4. Identify and explain the roles played by medical and 20%   
non-medical perspectives towards health threats
5. Show an awareness of such diseases on Hong Kong 20%  
society in historical and contemporary times
* If weighting is assigned to CILOs, they should add up to 100%. 100%
#
Please specify the alignment of CILOs to the Gateway Education Programme Intended Learning outcomes
(PILOs) in Section A of Annex.

A1: Attitude
Develop an attitude of discovery/innovation/creativity, as demonstrated by students possessing a strong
sense of curiosity, asking questions actively, challenging assumptions or engaging in inquiry together
with teachers.
A2: Ability
Develop the ability/skill needed to discover/innovate/create, as demonstrated by students possessing
critical thinking skills to assess ideas, acquiring research skills, synthesizing knowledge across disciplines
or applying academic knowledge to self-life problems.
A3: Accomplishments
Demonstrate accomplishment of discovery/innovation/creativity through producing /constructing
creative works/new artefacts, effective solutions to real-life problems or new processes.

Course Syllabus
AIS4142 - 2
Nov 2018
 3. Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
(TLAs designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs.)

TLA Brief Description CILO No. Hours/week

1 2 3 4 (if applicable)
1 Lectures: the instructor will present √ √ √ √
overviews of key cases and issues
2 Group Discussions: students will analyse √ √ √ √
weekly readings and discuss their
findings
3 Oral presentations: Students will work in √ √ √ √
groups to lead class discussions and
structured question and answer sessions
on relevant topics
4 Research: students use relevant materials √ √ √ √
to write a paper as set by the instructor
5 Participation: students will engage in √ √ √ √
active learning groups to develop deeper
understandings of key texts and real-
world challenges.

4. Assessment Tasks/Activities (ATs)

(ATs are designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs.)

Assessment Tasks/Activities CILO No. Weighting* Remarks

1 2 3 4 5
Continuous Assessment: ____%
Attendance and participation      10
Essay (2,500 words)     30
Fieldwork project      20
presentation
Quiz (approximately      40
2 hours)
Examination: ____% (duration: , if applicable)
* The weightings should add up to 100%. 100%

Course Syllabus
AIS4142 - 3
Nov 2018
5. Assessment Rubrics
(Grading of student achievements is based on student performance in assessment tasks/activities with the following rubrics.)

Assessment Criterion Excellent Good Fair Marginal Failure

Task (A+, A, A-)
1. Presentation Relevance to question, Demonstrates high level
(20%) degree of analysis, mix of conceptual thinking
of oral to visual reflected in presentation.
presentation, sources, Evidence of ability to
coherence with other fully comprehend and
presenters, ability to critique lecture and
answer questions, reading material through
quality of visual demonstrable written and
materials, oral oral communication. The
communication skills. student is able to utilise
theoretical concepts in
critically explaining case
study materials and
extrapolate these
materials into new areas.
Able to answer questions
to a high level and strong
coherence with the rest of
the group.
2. Participation Engages in group The student has not
(10%) discussions, able to missed any classes and
answer questions, an has regularly contributed
incorporation of theory to discussions at a high
and case studies. Does level.
not miss any classes.
(B+, B, B-) (C+, C, C-)
Demonstrates good Demonstrates
ability to think incomplete/marginal
critically and performs ability to critically
well in presentation analyze theoretical and
Student is able to case study material.
recognise important The student may
characteristics of the struggle with
theoretical models and understanding the
case studies but may models. Student’s oral
not be fully able to performance in the
analyse them or apply presentation has
them to new situations. shown minimal
Able to answer appreciation of the
questions and subjects beyond a
coherence with the rest discursive level.
of the group. High level Unable to answer
oral skills. No spelling questions in a
or grammatical comprehensive way
mistakes in relevant and only limited
text. coherence with the rest
of the group.
Reasonable oral skills.
Some spelling or
grammatical mistakes
in relevant text.
The student has missed The student has missed
1-2 classes without 2-3 classes without
explanation and/or has justified explanation
regularly contributed to and has infrequently
discussions but only at contributed to
a discursive level. discussions at a and/or simulation. Or the
discursive level.
(D)
Indicates that the student
has comprehended little
understanding of the
theories and case studies.
Tin general a poor
performance in the
presentation. Unable to
answer questions and
little coherence with the
rest of the group. Poor
oral skills. Frequent
spelling or grammatical
mistakes in relevant text.
The student has missed
three classes without
justified explanation, but
has generally to
contributed to discussions
student has not missed
more than three classes
without justified
explanation, but has failed
to contribute to
discussions.
(F)
Indicates that through
poor learning or lack of
effort, the student has
failed to demonstrate
even a minimal capacity
to analyze concepts and
theories. Unable to
answer questions and no
coherence with the rest
of the group. Very poor
oral skills. Spelling or
grammatical mistakes in
relevant text.
The student has missed
more than three classes
without justified
explanation, generally
failed to contribute to
discussions.

Course Syllabus
AIS4142 - 4
Nov 2018
 3. Term paper Theoretical basis for Demonstrates high level Demonstrates good Demonstrates poor Demonstrates very limited Demonstrates no
(30%) writing, Incorporation of analytical thinking. level of analytical level of analytical or no analytical thinking, analytical thinking,
of case study materials, Evidence of ability to thinking. Evidence of thinking, mostly largely descriptive. entirely descriptive.
Engagement with key fully comprehend and ability to fully descriptive. Evidence Limited ability to Limited ability to
readings and secondary critique materials. The comprehend and of ability to partially comprehend and critique comprehend and critique
literature, spelling and student is able to utilise critique materials. The comprehend and materials. The student is materials. The student is
grammar, Analysis of theoretical concepts in student is able to utilise critique materials. The unable to utilise unable to utilise
topic critically explaining case theoretical concepts in student is able to utilise theoretical concepts in theoretical concepts in
study materials and critically explaining theoretical concepts in explaining case study explaining case study
extrapolate these case study materials a limited way in materials and has a materials. Spelling or
materials into new areas. and extrapolate these explaining case study restricted ability to grammatical mistakes.
No spelling or materials into new materials and has a extrapolate these Highly restricted and
grammatical mistakes. areas. No spelling or restricted ability to materials into new areas. inappropriate references.
Excellent range of source grammatical mistakes. extrapolate these Spelling or grammatical
materials. Good use of source materials into new mistakes. Highly
materials. areas. Some spelling or restricted or inappropriate
grammatical mistakes. references.
Restricted and/or
inappropriate
references.
4. Quiz (40%) Quality of argument, Excellent analytical Good analytical Largely descriptive Descriptive argument, Descriptive argument,
Reference to texts argument, excellent argument, good argument, adequate poor structure, minimal or poor structure, no
covered in course, structure, clear structure, good structure, minimal no incorporation of texts incorporation of texts
Reference to cases incorporation of texts incorporation of texts incorporation of texts covered in course, covered in course, no use
covered in class covered in course, clear covered in course, good covered in course, minimal or no use of case of case study materials to
discussions use of case studies to use of case studies to minimal use of case study materials to illustrate argument,
illustrate argument, no illustrate argument, no studies to illustrate illustrate argument, frequent spelling or
spelling or grammatical spelling or grammatical argument, some frequent spelling or grammatical mistakes.
mistakes mistakes spelling or grammatical mistakes
grammatical mistakes

Course Syllabus
AIS4142 - 5
Nov 2018
Part III Other Information (more details can be provided separately in the teaching plan)

1. Keyword Syllabus
(An indication of the key topics of the course.)
Human security, disease, pandemics, plague, polio, syphilis, cholera, SARS, HIV/AIDS, avian influenza,
swine flu, non-communicable diseases, health governance, medical ethics.

2. Indicative Reading List

McInnes, Colin and Kelley Lee (2012). Global Health and International Relations (Cambridge, UK:
Polity Press), pp. 130-157.

Fidler, David P. (2010). The Challenges of Global Health Governance (New York: Council on Foreign
Relations), pp. 1-31.

Wilson, Kumanan (2004). “The Complexities of Multi-Level Governance in Public Health,” Canadian
Journal of Public Health 95(6): 409-412.

Heymann, David (2010). “Public Health, Global Governance, and the Revised International Health
Regulations,” in David Relman, Eileen Choffnes and Alison Mack (eds.) Infectious Disease Movement
in a Borderless World: Workshop Summary (Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, The National
Academies Press), pp. 182-195.

Banchoff, Thomas (2005). “Path Dependence and Value-Driven Issues: The Comparative Politics of
Stem Cell Research,” World Politics 57(2): 200-230.

Morin, Jean-Frédéric and Amandine Orsini (2014). “Policy Coherency and Regime Complexes: The
Case of Genetic Resources,” Review of International Studies 40: 303-324.

Fitzgerald, Maureen H. (2004). “Punctuated Equilibrium, Moral Panics and the Ethics Review Process,”
Journal of Academic Ethics 2: 315-338.

Huang, Yanzhong (2010). “Pursuing Health as Foreign Policy: The Case of China,” Indiana Journal of
Global Legal Studies 17(1): 105-146.

Leon, Joshua K. (2013). “The Regime Complex for Global Health: Is Bigger Worse?” Paper Presented
at the Western Political Science Association Meeting, Hollywood, California, US.

Holzscheiter, Anna (2014). “Restoring Order in Global Health Governance: Do Metagovernance Norms
Affect Interorganizational Convergence?” CES Open Forum Series #23, 2014-2015: 1-30.

Roger, Charles and Peter Dauvergne (2016). “The Rise of Transnational Governance as a Field of Study,”
International Studies Review 18(3): 415-437.

Lomas, Jonathan (1998). “Social Capital and Health: Implications for Public Health and Epidemiology,”
Social Science and Medicine 47(9): 1181-1188.

ASEAN Network for Drugs, Diagnostics, Vaccines and Traditional Medicine Innovation (2013).
Strategic Business Plan (Taguig City, Philippines: ASEAN-NDI), pp. i-157.

Haas, Ernst B. and Philippe C. Schmitter (1964). “Economics and Differential Patterns of Political
Course Syllabus AIS4142 - 6
Nov 2018
Integration: Projections about Unity in Latin America,” International Organization 18(4): 705-737.

Sridhar, Devi et al. (2014). “Global Rules for Global Health: Why We Need an Independent, Impartial
WHO,” BMJ 348: g3841.

Frenk, Julio and Suerie Moon (2013). “Governance Challenges in Global Health,” The New England
Journal of Medicine 368(10): 936-42.

Kickbusch, Ilona and David Gleicher (2012). Governance for Health in the 21st Century (Copenhagen:
WHO/Europe), pp. v-107.

Altenstetter, Christa (2005). “Bridging European and Member State Implementation: The Case of
Medical Goods, In Vitro Diagnostics and Equipment,” in Monika Steffen (ed.) Health Governance in
Europe: Issues, Challenges and Theories (London: Routledge), pp. 81-112.

Moon, Suerie et al. (2017). “Post-Ebola Reforms: Ample Analysis, Inadequate Action,” BMJ 356: j280.

Shah, Sonia (2016). Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond (New York:
Sarah Crichton Books), pp. 179-199.

Taubenberger, Jeffery K. and David M. Morens (2006). “1918 Influenza: The Mother of All Pandemics,”
Emerging Infectious Diseases 12(1): 15-22.

Watts Sheldon (1999). Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism (New Haven and
London: Yale University Press), pp. 1-39.

Yip, Ka-che (2012). “Segregation, Isolation, and Quarantine: Protecting Hong Kong from Diseases in
the Pre-War Period,” Journal of Comparative Asian Development 11(1): 93-116.

Peckham, Robert (2016). Epidemics in Modern Asia (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), pp.
250-300.

Rodriguez-Garcia, Rosalia (2001). “The Health-Development Link: Travel as a Public Health Issue,”
Journal of Community Health 26(2): 93-112.

King, Brian (2010). “Political Ecologies of Health,” Progress in Human Geography 34(1): 38-55.

Rossi, John and Samual A. Garner (2014). “Industrial Farm Animal Production: A Comprehensive Moral
Critique,” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 27(3): 479-522.

Benard, Marianne and Tjard de Cock Buning (2013). “Exploring the Potential of Dutch Pig Farmers and
Urban-Citizens to Learn Through Frame Reflection,” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
26(5): 1015-1036.

Klein, Jakob A. (2013). “Everyday Approaches to Food Safety in Kunming,” The China Quarterly 214:
376-393.

Pimentel, David et al. (1998). “Ecology of Increasing Disease,” Bioscience 48(10): 817-826.

Kealhofer, Lisa (2002). “Changing Perceptions of Risk: The Development of Agro-Ecosystems in

Southeast Asia,” American Anthropologist 104(1): 178-194.

Fauci, Anthony S. and David M. Morens (2016). “Zika Virus in the Americas - Yet Another Arbovirus
Course Syllabus AIS4142 - 7
Nov 2018
Threat,” The New England Journal of Medicine 374: 601-604.

Mlakar, Jernej et al. (2016). “Zika Virus Associated with Microcephaly,” The New England Journal of
Medicine 374: 951-958.

Kettel, Bonnie (1996). “Women, Health and the Environment,” Social Science and Medicine 42(10):
1367-1379.

Musso, D., E. J. Nilles and V. M. Cao-Lormeau (2014). “Rapid Spread of Emerging Zika Virus in the
Pacific Area,” Clinical Microbiology and Infection 20(10): O595-O596.

Nikogosiana, Hail and Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva (2015). “WHO’s First Global Health Treaty: 10 Years
in Force,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 93: 211.

Fang, Xiaoping (2014). “The Global Cholera Pandemic Reaches Chinese Villages: Population Mobility,
Political Control, and Economic Incentives in Epidemic Prevention, 1962–1964,” Modern Asian Studies
48(3): 754-790.

Gerwin, Leslie E. (2011). “Planning for Pandemic: A New Model for Governing Public Health
Emergencies,” American Journal of Law and Medicine 37(1): 128-171.

Bentley, Jeffery W. et al. (2012). “Travelling Companions: Emerging Diseases of People, Animals and
Plants Along the Malawi-Mozambique Border,” Human Ecology 40: 557-569.

Krech, Rüdiger (2012). “Working on the Social Determinants of Health is Central to Public Health,”
Journal of Public Health Policy 33(2): 279-284.

Bhutta, Zulfiqar A. (2013). “Conflict and Polio: Winning the Polio Wars,” JAMA 310(9): 905-906.

Asad, Asad L. and Tamara Kay (2015). “Toward a Multidimensional Understanding of Culture for Health
Interventions,” Social Science and Medicine 144: 79-87.

Prasad, Amit et al. (2015). “Prioritizing Action on Health Inequities in Cities: An Evaluation of Urban
Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) in 15 Cities from Asia and Africa,” Social
Science and Medicine 145: 237-242.

Mutatkar, R. K. (1995). “Public Health Problems of Urbanization,” Social Science and Medicine 41(7):
977-981.

Elbe, Stefan (2006). “Should HIV/AIDS Be Securitized? The Ethical Dilemmas of Linking HIV/AIDS
and Security,” International Studies Quarterly 50: 119-144.

Lo, Catherine Yuk-Ping (2015). HIV/AIDS in China and India: Governing Health Security (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 45-64.

Knutsen, Wenjue Lu (2012). “An Institutional Account of China’s HIV/AIDS Policy Process from 1985
to 2010,” Politics & Policy 40(1): 161-192.

Abraham, Thomas (2004). Twenty-First Century Plague: The Story of SARS (Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press), pp. 51-79.

Schwartz, Jonathan (2012). “Compensating for the ‘Authoritarian Advantage’ in Crisis Response: A
Comparative Case Study of SARS Pandemic Responses in China and Taiwan,” The Journal of Chinese
Course Syllabus AIS4142 - 8
Nov 2018
Political Science 17: 313-331.

Fidler, David P. (2010). “Viral Sovereignty, Global Governance, and the IHR 2005: The H5N1 Virus
Sharing Controversy and Its Implications for Global Health Governance,” in David Relman, Eileen
Choffnes and Alison Mack (eds.) Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World: Workshop
Summary (Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Press), pp. 210-228.

French, P. Edward and Eric S. Raymond (2009). “Pandemic Influenza Planning: An Extraordinary
Ethical Dilemma for Local Government Officials,” Public Administration Review 69(5): 823-830.

Mason, Katherine A. (2016). Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health After an Epidemic
(Stanford, California: Stanford University Press), pp. 143-180.

Imperato, Pascal James (2016). “The Convergence of a Virus, Mosquitoes, and Human Travel in
Globalizing the Zika Epidemic,” Journal of Community Health 41: 674-679.

McCoy, Charles Allan (2016). “SARS, Pandemic Influenza and Ebola: The Disease Control Styles of
Britain and the United States,” Social Theory and Health 14(1): 1-17.

Monson, Sarah (2017). “Ebola as African: American Media Discourses of Panic and Otherization,”
Africa Today 63(3): 3-27.

Robbins, Anthony and Ruth Berkelman (2015). “Lessons from the Public Health Response to Ebola,”
Journal of Public Health Policy 36(1): 1-3.

Akhtar, Aysha (2013). “The Need to Include Animal Protection in Public Health Policies,” Journal of
Public Health Policy 34(4): 549-559.

Yang, Seongwoo and Sung-Il Cho (2017). “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Risk Perception Among
Students at a University in South Korea, 2015,” American Journal of Infection Control 45(6): e53–e60.

Youde, Jeremy (2015). “MERS and Global Health Governance,” International Journal 70(1): 119–136.

Cui, Dan et al. (2017). “Use of and Microbial Resistance to Antibiotics in China: A Path to Reducing
Antimicrobial Resistance,” Journal of International Medical Research 45(6): 1768-1778.

Neu, Harold C. (1992). “The Crisis in Antibiotic Resistance,” Science 257(5073): 1064-1073.

Blouin, Chantal and Laurette Dube (2010). “Global Health Diplomacy for Obesity Prevention: Lessons
from Tobacco Control,” Journal of Public Health Policy 31(2): 244-255.

Christiani, Yodi et al. (2016). “Inadequate Collaboration: A Challenge to Reaching Global Targets for
Non-Communicable Disease Control and Prevention,” Journal of Public Health Policy 37(1): 114-117.

Mariner, Wendy K. (2016). “Beyond Lifestyle: Governing the Social Determinants of Health,” American
Journal of Law and Medicine 42: 284-309.

Course Syllabus AIS4142 - 9

Nov 2018